The Blues go into the encounter on the back of a hugely frustrating loss in front of a sell-out Cardiff Arms Park on New Year’s Eve and determined to kick off 2018 on a winning note against their Guinness PRO14 Conference A rivals.
Wales’ Capital Region have not triumphed at the Liberty Stadium since 2005, but claimed a memorable victory the last time the two sides met in a first team match, at Judgement Day last April.
Cardiff Blues go into the encounter on the back of seven wins in their last 11 matches in all competitions and aiming to consolidate fourth place before attentions turn back to the European Challenge Cup.
Kristian Dacey returns to captain Cardiff Blues and is one of six changes. Three of those are in the back with Anton Peikrishvili also coming into the second-row and Damian Welch handed a start.
The other three changes see Gareth Anscombe moving to full-back in a tactical switch with Jarrod Evans starting at fly-half and partnering Lloyd Williams. Alex Cuthbert also makes his first start since he picked up a calf injury during the autumn internationals.
Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb is fit for the Ospres after a knock forced him off in their win against Dragons. Back-row Dan Lydiate is unavailable with a serious bicep injury while Cory Allen and Paul James are also out.
Sam Davies remains at full back with Dan Evans on the wing while up front Alun Wyn Jones captains the side from the second row alongside Bradley Davies.
What they said:
Danny Wilson
“We were extremely disappointed we didn’t come out of the Scarlets game with a win, we dominated almost every area of the game and did everything bar win.
“We certainly go to the Liberty Stadium confident that we can test them, but they have been playing much better over the last month.
“They have gone back to traditional Ospreys. They have a bit more line speed in defence, they’re a bit more direct and set-piece based in their attack and we have to be able to deal with that.
“But if we can perform with the same intensity, ferocity and dominate the areas of the game that we dominated against the Scarlets then there’s no reason why we can’t go to the Liberty and get a win.
Rhys Gill
"It's a big old festive period. Three derbies on the bounce is never easy because they are international standard matches. It is as high as you can get intensity-wise and then Toulouse is a massive one for us.
"We're top of the league (Pool 2) and we want to try to get through to the quarter-finals, which would put us in a good position for the rest of the season.
"But the Ospreys is huge for us. We've spoken about it a lot this week and to be within a chance against the Ospreys, you have to match them physically.
"If we get that right then we're in with a chance because our attack has been good. It's just getting the set-piece right and our physicality at the breakdown because that's what they pride themselves on."